Fire-hose crossing for railways.



Tv. D. WALLER. FIRE HOSE CROSSING PQR RAILWAYS. APPLIoATroN FILED Aue. 25, 1911.

Patented 9, 191.2.

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UNITED i sTATEs yPATENT oEEIcE.

THOMAS D. WALLER, 0F MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE.

FIRE-HOSE CROSSING FOR RAILWAYS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS D. WALLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Memphis, in the county of Shelby and State of Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Hose Crossings for Railways; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of t-his specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in emergency devices for use in permitting the extension of lines of hose by firemen across railway tracks in' such manner as to in no way interfere with or delay the passage of trains or cars, the

device being designed to be quickly and securely attached to or removed from the rails of a railway and to form a track in connection with the permanent rails with apertures provided through which fire hose can be passed in the space intervening between the railway track and the temporary track above the same.

To these ends and to such others as the invention may pertain, the same consists in the novel construction and in the peculiar arrangement, combination and adaptation of parts, all as will be more fully hereinafter described, shown in the accompanying drawings, and then specifically defined in the appended claims.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which, with the letters of reference marked thereon, form a part of this specification and in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a section of railway track with my invention y applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a like view show- Specication of Letters Patent.

Application led August 25, 1911.

Patented Apr. 9, 1912.

serial No. 645,947.

rectly opposite one another. The lower face of the device 3 is provided with a slot or channel 4, slightly wider than the tread of the rail which is received therein. The up per face of the device isprovided with a wheel bearing surface 5, of substantially equal width to the width of the tread of the rail and forms a continuous incline to a point substantially the longitudinal center of the casting and from this central point! the track gradually declines in opposite directions to the eXtreme ends of the device and interposed between this inclined rail bearing surface and the face of the rail 4 are provided openings 6, 6 through which fire hose may be passed.

The cast-ings are held rigidly in place and insured against lateral displacement by means of the transverse brace bars 7, 7 which are extended transversely across the space intervening between the castings upon opposite sides of the tracks, the ends of the braces bearing against the web portions 8, 8 of the castings. The brace bars 7 7', which arel disposed at points adjacent to the opposite ends of the device, are each provided with brace chains 9, the ends of which 14 provided at points adjacent to the ends of the bar and are secured therein, the intermediate or central portion of the chain being passed through a suitable ring 10 which is stapled or otherwise secured to one of the cross ties 2. In order to provide means whereby the point at which the ends of the chain are attached to the bar may be varied, a series of vertical openings 14, 14 through the bar are provided.

11, 11 are metallic arms, which at their inner ends are integral with the casting 3. The free outer ends of said arms, which are sharpened, are bent. downward and provided at the angle 12 with a attened portion or extension which permits of their sharpened ends being driven downward into a railway tie. These arms 8 are provided at intervals upon both inner and outer faces of the casting as shown and serve, when thus secured to the ties, to materially brace the same upon opposite sides. The casting 3 is still further braced and held in position in connection with the rail 1 by means of clamping members 13 which are preferably made of malleable iron and as illustrated in Fig. 4. Upon having reference to Fig. 3 of the drawings, it will be noted that the body portion of this clamping member passes beneath the base plate of the rail and extends upward over the base portion of the casting 3. rfhe upper inner edge of the clamping member is bifurcated, as shown at 15, and within this bifurcated opening is received a lug 1S provided upon the inner face of the casting and the device is held in position by means of a rod or bar 17 interposed between the downwardly extended free ends 16 and the said lug or extension 18, while the opposite end 19 is provided with an opening 20 to engage a lug or extension upon the outer face of the casting 3.

It will be noted that the opening 6 provided in the web port-ion 7 of the casting 3 extends through the lower edge of the casting, so as to permit the device to be placed over the hose after the same has been lowered across the railway tracks.

In Fig. 2 of the drawings, I have shown a slightly modified form of the device, such as would be necessary in adapting it for use upon pavements in city streets for affording means for bridging the tracks for the hose in trolley lines. The difference between the two forms shown in Figs. 1 and 2 resides in the fact that, in city streets, the cross ties such as are used upon railroads are dispensed with and in this case the brace chain 9 is passed through a ring 2 held by a staple driven into the pavement and the sharpened end of the angle plate 11 is driven directly into the asphalt or other pavement of the street instead of into the ties, as shown in Fig. 1.

Having thus fully described my invention,

what I claim to be new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a device of the character described, in combination with a railway track, of castings provided with openings for the passage of lire hose and adapted to be clamped to the track rails in alinement therewith and upon opposite rails of the track, brace rods interposed between and having bearings against the inner faces of the casting, brace chains having their ends secured at points adjacent to the ends of the brace bars, the central portion of the chain being passed through rings permanently secured between the tracks, and brace rods or arms connected with the outer faces of the castings and adapted to have their free outer ends driven downward to effect a bracing for the outer faces of the casting, substantially as shown and described and for the purpose specified.

2. In a device of the character described, a casting adapted to be clamped to a railway rail, the said casting being provided upon its upper face with an inclined wheel track in alinement with the railway track, brace rods connected with the track and adapted to hold the same against lateral displacement, and clamping members adapted to pass under the base portion of the rail and its upper ends to engage lugs or extensions carried upon the inner and outer faces of the castings.

In testimony whereof l hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses. THOMAS D. VALLER. llVitnesses A. R. FowLER, FRANKLIN H. HOUGH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

